Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov concluded a visit to Pyongyang on Monday that included engagements with communist dictator Kim Jong-un and a vow that North Korea would offer “unconditional” support for the invasion of Ukraine.
North Korean state media reported that much of the discussion in Lavrov’s various meetings focused on North Korea’s participation in the invasion, which is believed to have begun after Kim and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense agreement in June 2024. Kim and Lavrov reportedly discussed the further implementation of that agreement during their talk and, in exchange, Lavrov offered support for North Korea in the face of global sanctions on its illicit nuclear program and widespread condemnation of its atrocious human rights record.
Lavrov’s appearance in the country has followed a lull in attempts by world powers, most prominently the United States, to find an end to hostilities in Ukraine. President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, retired General Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv on Monday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and discuss further support towards a resolution.
Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, colonizing its Crimean peninsula and offering underhanded support for separatist militias in the eastern Donbass region. In February 2022, Putin announced a “special operation” to oust Zelensky, declaring him a “Nazi” and claiming his election in a widely recognized free and fair election was a threat to Russia. That year, Putin “annexed” four more regions of Ukraine: the Donbass regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
The war has continued for three years unabated. North Korea entered the fray shortly after a dramatic change in the war theater: Ukraine invaded Russia in August 2024, seizing territory in the Kursk region where North Korean fighters have reportedly been engaged.
Kim Jong-un expressed enthusiasm for Russia’s position in the war during his conversation with Lavrov, according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“Kim Jong Un reaffirmed that the DPRK is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis,” KCNA reported, “in keeping with the spirit of the inter-state treaty between the DPRK and Russia in the future, too.”
DPRK is an abbreviation for “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the official communist party name for North Korea.
“Clearly expressed at the talks were the will of the leaderships of the two countries to closely support and cooperate with each other in the journey for thoroughly safeguarding the core interests of the two countries,” KCNA continued, “powerfully promoting the overall development of bilateral ties and guaranteeing endless wellbeing of the peoples and their bright future.”
The meeting between Lavrov and Kim reportedly occurred on Saturday.
Beyond the “unconditional” support against Ukraine, Kim reportedly added that North Korea and Russia “share the same views on all strategic issues” and stated that he held a “firm belief” that Russia would “win victory” in Ukraine.
Other reports noted that Lavrov came to Kim with warm greetings from Putin and praised Pyongyang for backing Russia, hoping the two would “further strengthen the strategic and tactical cooperation and intensify concerted action… in the international arena.” The South Korean news agency Yonhap stated that Russian media relayed Lavrov’s message that Putin was hoping to meet Kim personally in the “very near future.”
“The Russian side expressed its sincere gratitude for Pyongyang’s consistent support in principle of the Russian special military operation,” Lavrov reportedly told Kim, according to the Russian news agency Tass, “and the participation of fighters from the Korean People’s Army in ousting Ukrainian nationalists and foreign mercenaries from the Kursk Region.”
In addition to his meeting with Kim, Lavrov met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. That meeting furthered “strategic dialogue” between the two countries, according to KCNA, focusing on details omitted from direct talks with Kim.
The conversation between the two top diplomats “reaffirmed the firm will to faithfully implement the spirit and overall articles of the treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership,” the two sides said in a press statement following their conversation.
“The DPRK side expressed full sympathy and support for all the measures taken by the Russian government to remove the root cause of the Ukrainian conflict and defend its national sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity,” the statement reiterated.
Estimates vary on how involved North Korea has become in the Ukraine invasion, though all appear to believe that thousands of North Korean fighters are engaged in the conflict. Some intelligence sources have stated that North Korea is planning to send another 6,000 of its forces into Kursk in the near future and that North Korea has lost between 600 and 5,000 troops.
Kim first confirmed the presence of North Korean troops in Kursk in April, congratulating them for “performing heroic feats in the operations to repulse and annihilate the grave sovereignty infringement by the Ukrainian authorities.”
“The motherland should hand down forever the soul of them who fought to defend the great honor and take important state measures to specially and preferentially treat and take care of the families of the brave soldiers who participated in the war,” Kim declared at the time.
KCNA declared the North Korean fighters “heroes” for making “an important contribution to annihilating the Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces.”
Ukraine had exposed the presence of North Koreans in the war theater long before Kim’s admission, however. In January, Zelensky published videos of individuals he identified as North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian troops, explaining that South Korea offered translation services to communicate with the men.
In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others. There should be no doubt left in the world that the Russian army is dependent on military assistance from North… pic.twitter.com/4RyCfUoHoC
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 12, 2025
Zelensky offered to return the solders to North Korea in “exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia.” He also offered political asylum to North Korean fighters seeking to defect in exchange for them testifying to their experiences and supporting the Ukraine war effort publicly.
In late June, Kim appeared on state propaganda networks hosting a ceremony to honor the estimated hundreds dead from the country fighting Ukraine. Kim presided over an event at a theater showing propaganda lionizing the Russian invasion, including footage of Kim crying while welcoming the coffins of dead soldiers home.
President Trump announced this weekend that he would facilitate the delivery of American weaponry to Ukraine to help continue to hold back the Russian invasion. Trump sent Kellogg to Kyiv on Monday for conversations on their cooperation and has repeatedly expressed frustration with Putin for his apparent lack of interest in negotiating a peace deal.
“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, [if] you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
